Spring-motor.



D. G. GULBERTSON.

SPRING MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAE. 4, 1911.

Patented July 23, 1912.

2 SHBETSSHEET 1.

Davida COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH (10., WASHINGTON. D. c.

D. U. GULBERTSON.

SPRING MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED MARA, 1911. 4 1,033, 1 58. Patented July 23, 1912.

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v 11W mama DAVID C. CULBERTSON, OF DODGE CITY, KANSAS.

SPRING-MOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 4, 1911. Serial No. 612,268.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID C. CULBERTSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dodge City, in the county of Ford and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring-Motors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. 1

My invention relates to improvements in spring motors and more particularly to a spring motor adapted for use in connection with an automatically operated cradle, and my object is to provide a motor which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and one which is extremely efiective in operation.

A further object is to provide means for the storage of energy in said motor, and a further object is to provide a casing or housing for the motor divided in sections, each of which contains a portion of said motor.

A still further object is to provide means to retard the speed of said motor so as to provide the proper movement for the cradle.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists of the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as will hereinafter be referred to and more particularly pointed out in the specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application Figure 1 is a side elevation with the side of the housing nearest the observer removed; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device having the top of the housing and the cradle removed; Fig. 3 is a transverse sect-ion as seen on line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transverse section as seen on line 44 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is an end elevation showing the means for retaining the cradle on the base.

In carrying out my invention I shall refer to the drawings in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and in which 1 indicates a crib or cradle of the usual or any preferred type having rocker bottoms 2 thereon supported on the transverse bars 3 of a base 4.. Said cradle is oscillatingly supported on the bars 3 by providing the links 5, one of the ends of which is pivotally connected to said bars and the other to the rockers 2. The base 4 supporting said cradle 1 is of housing-form and contains therein means for the automatic operation of said cradle, which will be hereinafter described. Said housing is provided therein with the four vertically mounted walls or partitions 6, 7, 8 and 9, and extending through said walls 7, 8 and 9 and rotatably mounted in suitable bearings therein is a shaft 10. A coiled band spring 11 has one end thereof secured to the inner face of the top 12 of said base 4 and the opposite end thereof secured to said shaft 10, whereby when said spring is tightly wound the same has a tendency to rotate said shaft. This spring 11 is positioned on the shaft 10 so as to be disposed between the walls 9 and 9*,

an additional wall, and also. mounted on said shaft 10 is an enlarged gear 13 which is positioned between the walls 7 and 8 and adapted to rotate with the rotation of said shaft 10. An additional shaft 14 extends through the walls 6, 7 and 8 and is rotatably mounted in suitable bearings therein, said shaft having mounted thereon the small gear 15 and the larger gear 16. Said gear 15 is disposed between the Walls 7 and 8 and is in mesh with the enlarged gear 13 carried by the shaft 10, while the gear 16 is positioned between the walls 6 and 7 and meshes with a small gear 17 carried on Patented July 23, 1912.

still another shaft 18. This last referred to shaft extends through the walls 6 and 7 and is also rotatably mounted therein in any suitable bearings, and that portion of the said shaft 18 which is mounted in the end wall 6 extends therebeyond and has mounted thereon a crank arm or the like 19. An arm 20 has one end thereof eccentrically mounted on said crank arm through the medium of the wrist pin 21 and the opposite end of said arm 20 is bifurcated to receive one end of a lever or the like 22.

This lever 22 is pivotally mounted in the bifurcated end of the arm 20 through the medium of the pin 23 and extends through a slot 24 in the top 12 of the housing, the free end of said lever 22 being in rigid engagement with the bottom of the cradle 1 on the axial center thereof.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the rotation of the shaft 10 will impart a similar rotary movement to the crank arm 19, and correspondingly, an oscillating movement to the lever 22, and in order to provide for the storing of energy to rotate said shaft, or otherwise the winding of said spring 11, a shaft is slidably mounted in one end of the housing t and is provided on its outer end with a wheel, key or similar device 25 for manual. operation, whereby said shaft may be rotated. Said shaft is positioned in substantial alinement with the shaft 10 and the inner end of the same is provided with a socket 26 substantially square in cross section and the end of the shaft 10 which extends through the wall 9 is reduced, as shown at 27, and has the faces thereof flattened, said reduced end being substantially square in cross section and of a size equal to the socket 26 into which the same is adapted to be inserted. It will doubtless be appreciated that this socket 26 and reduced end 27 comprise substantially a clutch and as said shaft 25 is slidably mounted in one end of said housing, it will be seen that when it is desired to wind the shaft 10 for the storage of energy within the spring, said shaft is merely moved inwardly so that the socket thereof engages said reduced portion, whereupon by turning the key or the like the desired result will be ol tained. In order to prevent, however, the backward movement of the shaft during the winding thereof, I provide the elongated ratchet wheel 28 having the inclined teeth 29 thereon, said ratchet wheel being securely mounted on said shaft A dog 30 is pivotally mounted on the inner face of the adjacent end wall and is adapted by gravity to engage said teeth 29, thereby preventing the rotation of the shaft 25 in a direction opposite to that which is desired.

In operation, the cradle having been properly positioned on the housing to oscillate thereon and the lever 22 extended through the slot 24- of said housing, the shaft is first pushed inwardly to engage the reduced end 27 of the shaft 10. By turning the key 25 in one direction the spring 11 will be tightly wound upon the shaft 10 and when su'liicient energy has been stored therein the said shaft 25 is again drawn outwardly, thereby releasing the clutchmechanism from its effective position and allowing said shaft 10 to be rotated in an opposite direction, through the unwinding of said spring. The rotation of the shaft 10 will cause the rotation of the shaft 14 through the medium of the gears 13 and 15, which in turn rotates the shaft 18 through the medium of the gears 16 and 17. In view of the sizes of the various gears in the train, the rotation of the shaft 18 may be timed to run slowly and correspondingly transmit a slow rocking movement to the lever 22 through the medium of the crank arm 19 and eccentrically mounted pitman arm 20. The upper end of the lever being rigidly secured to the bottom of the cradle on the axial center thereof, each movement of the lower end of said lever will cause the cradle to sway in an opposite direction. The rocking of the lever will be continued as long as energy remains in the spring and when such energy has become exhausted, the spring may again be wound as above described.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that I have provided a simple and economical means for automatically rocking the cradle, which means consists in providing a spring motor designed to be manually wound.

It will be further seen that through the provision of various sized gears, the rotary motion caused by the spring may be timed, whereby the movement which directly rocks the cradle will be comparatively slow.

It will still further be seen that by providing a motor of such simple construction as hereabove described, the same may be obtained at a very low cost and applied to any form of cradle now in use.

I have stated that the device is wound by moving the socket 26 into engagement with the portion 27 of shaft 10, and in order to prevent the device from operating when the same is being wound, I provide a spring clutch mechanism 10 in the shaft 10, be-

ween the walls 8 and 9. The teeth thereof are so disposed as to slip over one another when the shaft is being turned in one direction and to tightly engage one another when turned in the other direction, to accomplish the result desired.

hat I claim is:

1. A spring motor of the class described, comprising a housing, a shaft formed in sections rotatably mounted therewithin, a clutch operatively connecting the sections of said shaft, a spring member having one end. thereof engaged with one section of said shaft and wound thereon, the opposite end of said spring being engaged with the inner wall of said housing, a train of gears having operative connection with the other section of the shaft, a winding key slidably disposed in the housing and adapted to engage one end of the first referred section of the shaft to wind the spring thereon, an elongated ratchet carried on said key, and a pawl pivotally carried within the housing and adapted to engage said ratchet in its various positions, to prevent said key from being turned in one direction.

2, A spring motor of the class described comprising a housing having a plurality of partitioned walls mounted therein, a shaft formed in sections and rotatably mounted in certain of the partitioned. walls of said housing, a clutch normally retaining the sections of said shaft in operative connection with one another, a spring member having one end thereof engaged with one section of the shaft and wound thereon, the opposite end of said spring being secured to the inner wall of the housing, a train of gears having operative connection with the other section of said shaft and disposed between certain of said partitions, a winding key slidably disposed through one end of said hous ing and supported in one of the aforesaid partitions, said key being adapted to engage the free end of the first referred to section of said shaft to rotate the same and wind the spring thereon, an elongated ratchet member carried on said key within the housing, and a pawl pivotally mounted within said housing and adapted to engage said ratchet to prevent the key from being turned in one direction, said ratchet being also adapted to limit the sliding movement of said key in one direction.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. DAVID C. CULBERTSON. Witnesses:

G. L. PAINTER, SOPHIA BALL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

